Richmond Hill tennis coach Jeff Graham says he’s been playing the sport his whole life and doesn’t get impressed easily. He was impressed, though, with his girls team’s effort in its season opener last Thursday against Calvary Day, as the Lady Wildcats downed the Lady Cavaliers 5-0.

“My top three singles players played out of their minds,” Graham said. “We had Jenny Wang in there at No. 1 against (Calvary’s) top player, and I didn’t think she had much of a chance. But she took the match to three sets and then won the third set in a tiebreaker, which showed she was mentally tough, as well.”

The Lady Wildcats lost their top player from a year ago in All Savannah Morning News selection Breanna Cota, but return mostly everyone else. Wang, a senior, will play out of the No. 1 singles position, while Caroline Cox and Ashley Harkness will be Nos. 2 and 3, respectively. Makela Bergsmith and Bailee Croy comprise the first doubles team, while Haley Smith and Ali Wells will play No. 2 doubles.

“We’re solid all the way down through doubles, and we’ve got a couple other girls who can play after that,” Graham said. “It’s a pretty veteran group on the girls side, and we’re looking forward to good things from them.”

On the boys side, Graham is expecting massive improvement.

“The boys team will be much better,” he said. “Last year we only had 10 players and struggled to even put a team out on the court. This year we’ve got 23 guys out. We’ve picked up three solid players, so it’s going to be a good year for us.”

The Richmond Hill boys also opened with a win over Calvary, topping the Cavaliers 4-1. The only loss came at No. 1 singles, where Hank Ferendo fell to a tough opponent in Jeff Roth. Senior Jeff Fortier, who played No. 1 singles for the Wildcats last season, will drop down to the second slot in 2013.

“He’s excited because he gets to play more in his realm of competition,” Graham said of Fortier. “He’s a great hustler out there on the court. He’s come a long way and improved tremendously every year.”

The Wildcats also regained Zach Hinz, who took last year off, and Graham is eager to see what freshmen newcomers and first doubles duo K.J. Kim and Kevin Zhu, who had two older brothers play at Richmond Hill previously, can do.

“Both of them are very smart on the court. They have very solid strokes, and they’ll do well for us,” Graham said.

Both Richmond Hill squads should factor in as Region 3-AAAAA title contenders, but Glynn Academy, who made deep playoff runs last year, will likely be the favorite on both sides.

“We’ll always have a problem with Glynn. That whole community (Brunswick) is really involved in tennis, and they’re always tough,” Graham said. “Ware County and Effingham County will be difficult as well, but we think we can play with anyone in the region.”